Building Unity: Roblox Community's Twitter Response to Affan Kurniawan Tragedy

Joyce Chardha Sinaga, Naiya Azahra, Raga Michael Nevada Moesa, Evaness Jocelym, Rahmadsyah Rangkuti

Abstract


This study explores how members of the Indonesian Roblox community used language on Twitter to express solidarity and organize fundraising efforts following the tragic death of Affan Kurniawan during a demonstration, aiming to analyze the linguistic strategies this gaming community employed to build a collective identity and coordinate charitable actions across digital platforms. The study examined 23 Twitter comments from Indonesian Roblox community members, selected through purposive sampling based on their participation in fundraising discussions and memorial activities related to the Affan Kurniawan case. Using Critical Discourse Analysis with Van Dijk’s three-dimensional framework, the research analyzed macrostructure (thematic organization), superstructure (discourse schemas), and microstructure (semantic, syntactic, lexical, and stylistic elements) through a qualitative examination of linguistic patterns and discourse strategies. The analysis revealed five primary thematic domains: Memorial and Commemoration, Donation and Financial Support, Gaming Platform Integration, Social Justice and Political Critique, and Community Solidarity and Collective Identity, with Gaming Platform Integration emerging as a novel form of digital activism. The findings showed that community members strategically used code-switching between Indonesian and English, Islamic terminology, gaming-specific vocabulary, and varied syntactic structures to maintain cultural authenticity while facilitating cross-platform activism. The study concludes that gaming communities possess unique linguistic capabilities for social organizing that extend beyond traditional social media activism, contributing new insights to digital discourse analysis and revealing how marginalized communities can leverage unconventional digital resources to create effective solidarity networks and organize meaningful collective action in response to social injustices.


 

Keywords


Community Solidarity; Critical Discourse Analysis; Digital Activism; Gaming Communities; Social Media

Full Text:

PDF

References


Abdullazoda, M. (2025). Sociolinguistic Features ofPoliteness inUzbek Social Media Discourse. American Journal of Philological Sciences, 5(5), 21–23. https://doi.org/10.37547/ajps/volume05issue05-07

Abdulmajeed, M., & El-Ibiary, R. (2020). Analyzing the communicative strategies of Egyptian political influencers: Content and discourse analyses of twitter accounts. Communication and Society, 33(2), 295–311. https://doi.org/10.15581/003.33.2.295-311

Aliyyah, I. H., Basrowi, Junaedi, A., & Syahyuti. (2024). Understanding Roblox’s business model and collaborative learning on participation in the decision-making process: implications for enhancing cooperative literacy. International Journal of Data and Network Science, 8(2), 1247–1260. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.ijdns.2023.11.009

Altoaimy, L. (2018). Driving change on Twitter: A corpus-assisted discourse analysis of the Twitter debates on the Saudi Ban on women driving. Social Sciences, 7(5), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3390/SOCSCI7050081

Alugbin, M., & Iyoha, O. (2024). Narratives of Resistance: Discursive Strategies in Nigeria’s 2020 #EndSARS Protest. Àgídìgbo: ABUAD Journal of the Humanities, 12(1), 105–121. https://doi.org/10.53982/agidigbo.2024.1201.07-j

Azzahra, S., Putri, N. N., Mubarok, A. B., & Khomarudin, K. (2025). Virtual Socialization Through Online Game: Social Interaction in Roblox. Edueksos Jurnal Pendidikan Sosial & Ekonomi, 14(01), 33–47. https://doi.org/10.24235/edueksos.v14i01.18440

Bhatia, K. V. (2022). Hindu Nationalism Online: Twitter as Discourse and Interface. Religions, 13(8), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13080739

Bouvier, G., & Machin, D. (2018). Critical discourse analysis and the challenges and opportunities of social media. Review of Communication, 18(3), 178–192. https://doi.org/10.1080/15358593.2018.1479881

Gervasio, M., & Karuri, M. (2019). Marking Identity through Language in Social Media Discourse by Chuka University Students. International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature, 7(8), 43–52. https://doi.org/10.20431/2347-3134.0708005

Gomez-Vasquez, L., Forstmane, L., Dias Da Silva, C. O., & Romero-Hall, E. (2024). Personal branding strategies in online hashtag communities: the case of #AcademicTwitter. Research in Learning Technology, 32(1063519), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.25304/rlt.v32.3098

Haliza, N., & Triyono, S. (2022). #stopasianhate Anti-Racism Actions on Social Media Twitter: A Critical Discourse Analysis. Humanus, 21(2), 156. https://doi.org/10.24036/humanus.v21i2.115844

Krippendorff, K. (2018). Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.

Kurniawan, A., & Alhaq, A. (2019). Muslimness Discourse, Religious Authority, and Cyber-Media Activism in Contemporary Indonesia. Proceedings of the 19th Annual International Conference on Islamic Studies, AICIS 2019, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.4108/eai.1-10-2019.2291731

Latief, R., & Bahar, N. (2022). Cyberactivism Sebagai Budaya Populer: Analisis Wacana Hashtag #Percumalaporpolisi Di Twitter. Jurnal Dakwah Tabligh, 23(1), 39–65. https://doi.org/10.24252/jdt.v23i1.29301

Morreale, D., & Rosa, A. (2024). Roblox and the Pervasiveness of Play: What Game-Making Communities Can Teach Us About Participatory Practices in Affinity Spaces. International Journal of Communication, 18, 4281–4299.

Ndukwani, T., & Ramhurry, R. (2023). A Discourse Analysis of Cyber Socialising Interactions in English among Students. Journal of Linguistics, Literature, and Language Teaching (JLLLT), 3(1), 15–32. https://doi.org/10.37249/jlllt.v3i1.669

Orosa, B. G., & López, X. (2019). Language in social networks as a communication strategy: Public administration, political parties and civil society. Communication and Society, 32(1), 107–125. https://doi.org/10.15581/003.32.1.107-125

Prayitno, H. J., Huda, M., Inayah, N., Ermanto, Ardi, H., Giyoto, & Yusof, N. (2021). Politeness of Directive Speech Acts on Social Media Discourse and Its Implications for Strengthening Student Character Education in the Era of Global Education. Asian Journal of University Education, 17(4), 179–200. https://doi.org/10.24191/ajue.v17i4.16205

Van Dijk, T. A. (1997). Discourse as Structure & Process (A Multidisciplinary Introduction). Sage Publication.

Wahyuni, S. W. (2025). Analisis Wacana Kritis Pada Meme Politik Terkait Wacana Kenaikan Pajak Yang Mencekik di Media Sosial. Linguistik, Terjemahan, Sastra (LINGTERSA), 6(2), 102–112. https://doi.org/10.32734/lts.v6i2.20875

Zikrulloh, Z. (2024). Advocacy Journalism of Project Multatuli: A Discourse Analysis of Online Transportation Driver News Reporting. Ultimacomm: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi, 16(1), 143–167. https://doi.org/10.31937/ultimacomm.v16i1.3474




DOI: https://doi.org/10.31004/jele.v10i6.1585

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2025 Naiya Azahra, Joyce Chardha Sinaga, Raga Michael Nevada Moesa, Evaness Jocelym, Rahmadsyah Rangkuti

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.